Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao met in one of the biggest fights of all time.
After years of speculation, the two boxing greats finally came together in May 2015, though it came a lot later than boxing fans would have hoped for.
Mayweather headed into the fight as unified WBC and WBA welterweight champion and a perfect 47-0 record, having secured world titles from super-featherweight to super-welterweight, beating fighters such as Canelo Alvarez, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez along the way.
Pacquiao was the reigning WBO welterweight and held a similar stellar record, winning world titles in a record eight divisions and along with Mayweather had also beaten the likes of De La Hoya, Cotto and Marquez.
There was a lot of bad blood in the period leading up to the clash, with each camp exchanging words to the other. Pacquiao’s long-time trainer Freddie Roach was one who had a point to raise, stating ahead of the bout in 2015 that he felt Mayweather had already tasted defeat.
“Floyd can say what he wants, but I saw Floyd get almost beat by Oscar and when he fought [Jose Luis] Castillo for the first time.
I talked to him about Floyd when we had him in camp with us and he told me Pacquiao is faster and hits way harder than Mayweather. I thought Castillo won their first fight. He put pressure on Floyd and broke him down.”
Mayweather and Castillo fought in April 2002, with some boxing fans sharing Roach’s view that Castillo had done enough to get the win.
Instead it was Mayweather who picked up a close points victory, before also defeating the Mexican by the same outcome when they had an immediate rematch.
Pacquiao also tasted defeat when he eventually fought Mayweather in their blockbuster showdown, losing by unanimous decision, and to this day the Filipino star says he would love a rematch.
